We are so delighted to welcome back Annette Dashofy, Agatha-Award-nominated author of the Zoe Chambers mysteries!
Cats in Fact and Fiction
A friend recently asked me if I plan to include horses in all my books. It’s a fair question. In my Zoe Chambers mysteries, Zoe owns a horse and has managed a boarding and training facility in the past. During the last few books, she has moved onto her own fixer-upper farm and is once again boarding horses. In my recent single-title, Death By Equine, Veterinarian Jessie Cameron goes to work at a Thoroughbred racetrack and is surrounded by horses.
I may or may not include horses in all future books, but more than likely, cats will be a part of all of my protagonists’ lives.
Zoe owns two felines, both orange tabbies. Police Chief Pete Adams, Zoe’s partner in life, can’t tell them apart. But I know Jade and Merlin quite well. Jade is a female classic tabby with bullseye swirls on her sides. Merlin, the male, has tiger stripes plus white chin, bib, belly, and paws. How do I keep them straight? They’re based on two of my own cats who have long since crossed the rainbow bridge. Sammie Jo was the model for Jade. BooBoo was Merlin. Even the real cats’ personalities find their way into their fictional counterparts. Jade (and Sammie) loves to be petted but not held. Merlin (BooBoo) will cuddle and snuggle all day long. I really don’t understand how Pete can’t tell them apart.
In Death By Equine, which was written years before the Zoe mysteries even though it only came out this past May, Jessie also has two cats. Molly is a seventeen-year-old black and white long-haired tuxedo and is deaf. She meows loud enough so she can hear herself. Her model was Fluffy (yes, I know; not a very original cat name). Fluffy was still with us at the time I wrote the book but passed away shortly after its completion. She’s the reason I continue to immortalize my angel kitties in my fiction. By having the cats in the books, I get to keep their memories and their quirks alive.
Jessie’s second cat is a kitten who remains unnamed until the very end of Death By Equine. He’s based on my Alexander, right down to the near-tragic accident that brings the kitten to Dr. Jessie’s clinic and the surgery that saves him and gives him an unusual gait—and an unusual way of sitting.
Anyone who follows me on social media or gets my newsletter knows about my current cat, Kensi. I’ve been asked why she hasn’t appeared in any of my books. The reason is simple. I don’t follow a lot of superstitions, but since Fluffy died once “her book” was finished, I’ve been afraid to put one of my live cats in another. In other words, I hope Kensi won’t appear in my fiction for a very long time.
Annette Dashofy is the USA Today best-selling author of the multi–Agatha Award nominated Zoe Chambers mystery series about a paramedic and deputy coroner in rural Pennsylvania’s tight-knit Vance Township.
Her latest release, a standalone, is Death by Equine, about a veterinarian at a second-rate thoroughbred racetrack seeking the truth about her mentor’s mysterious death. She and her husband live on ten acres of what was her grandfather’s dairy farm in southwestern Pennsylvania with their very spoiled cat, Kensi.
For more information, please visit annettedashofy.com.
Veterinarian Jessie Cameron agrees to fill in for her mentor, Doc Lewis, at Riverview Racetrack so he can take a long-overdue vacation. When he’s tragically killed by one of his equine patients the night before he’s supposed to leave, Jessie quickly suspects the death is anything but accidental. Her search for the truth is thwarted by everyone from well-meaning friends to the police, including her soon-to-be-ex-husband. Undaunted, she discovers layers of illegal activities and deceit being perpetrated by the man she thought of as a father figure, creating a growing list of suspects with reason to want Doc dead. Too late, she realizes that her dogged quest for the truth has put her in the crosshairs of a devious killer desperate to silence her. Permanently.
Chicks on the Case 
I adore Kensi, Annette! And thank you for sharing your other kitties with us. Maria says meow!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Maria is such a cutey pie, J.C. Tell her meow back from me and Kensi.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I like seeing Kensi in your social media, so I also hope we won’t see her in fiction for a long time.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I sure hope not, Liz. I need her to be my book spokescat!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much for visiting us today, Annette!
Love this series–and it’s very cool to see all of the real-life feline inspirations. They are all beautiful!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks, Cynthia. And thanks for having me here today!
LikeLike
Annette, Death by Equine sounds awesome–straight to the TBR list! As some of us know, I’ve been petrified of horses since childhood, but I LOVE stories involving anything equine. I was always the “horse” editor in all of my previous jobs, and even ventured (veeeery carefully) to the stables in Brooklyn for cover reference photo shoots. But I digress, because those adorable kitty angels of yours…aww! Thanks for sharing them with us, and long may Kensi reign.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Same, Lisa. My aunt and uncle owned a bison ranch with a bunch of horses and other critters. As a kid I got between the horses and the dinner bell. I have never moved so fast in my life! Still scarred, but only metaphorically.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, Becky. Yes, don’t get between a horse and its oats.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You know, Annette … I come from a big family. I can’t believe I hadn’t already learned that lesson!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Lisa, Death by Equine probably won’t do a thing to help you get over your fear of horses, but I hope you enjoy the book!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What beautiful kitties! Anna Belle and Molly, my two rescue cats, are the inspiration for Matty and Tom in my series as well. Like Pete’s issue, I’ve had people ask how I can tell them apart. Personally I don’t think they look all that similar, but maybe that’s because I see them every day.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Marla, it’s like a mom with twins. We know our fur babies apart, no problem.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nothin’ wrong with having both cats AND horses in your books (says this gal who was one of those horse-crazy pre-teens you’ve heard tell of).
Thanks so much for visiting the Chicks today, and congrats on the new books!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you, Leslie! (from another horse-crazy gal.)
LikeLike
Thanks for visiting the Chicks, Annette! Love the adorable cat photos.
We have a friend who has twin kittens, but the cats’ paws are subtly different–and their personalities are also very opposite.
Kensi may not be in your books, but she’s doing a great job being a book model (and perhaps an associate editor?).
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks, Jennifer. And Kensi tends to fall asleep when I read pages to her for her editorial content. 😀
LikeLike
I’m allergic, so have never spent any time around cats. I’m desperate to have a kitten, but will have to indulge that fantasy through books I suppose. I would love to see how Nala (who haaates cats) would react to a kitten. I suspect they’d become fast friends. And I’d die from the cute.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Aw, Becky, I can’t imagine being allergic to cats. And kittens are cuteness personified.
LikeLike
I know! *sob*
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know the answer to this. You will have horses and cats in all your books. 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
Mark, I’m currently working on something new and there aren’t cats or horses in it. YET.
LikeLike
I have faith. 🙂
LikeLike
I love that you’ve added your actual kitties into your stories. I did that with my latest, Murder in Plein Air, but I used their real names (Caspurr, Coppurr-who is also a red with a classic tabby- pattern, and Jaspurr) My three are all rescues turned show cat champions. I love you books by the way!!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you, Karen! What great names! In hindsight, I wish I had used their real names. Oh, well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Annette, congratulations on the stand-alone. So happy for you. And your kitties are gorgeous. Two of our dogs I wrote into my series have crossed the rainbow bridge. Pogo is still with us, but he’s 15. It’s so hard. For your sake, I hope Kensi stays with you – and out of your books! – for years to come.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks, Ellen. Hugs for your pups. And congrats on YOUR new book too!
LikeLike
Awww! I love the kitties and so love having you here, Annette. So fun to get a glimpse into your animal inspiration. I like to think Kensi is fiercely private and has decided to avoid the limelight–for now!
Huge congrats on the latest. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is so true, Kathleen. I have to bribe her to pose for her spokes kitty pictures.
LikeLiked by 1 person